Chapter 9

The ride home was long and seemed to drag by. The restaurant they went to was 2 hours away but the view was worth it.

Allison started drifting off to sleep in the back seat. She had a Dream about Jensen. He was dating a very pretty girl. She had strawberry blonde hair and dark brown eyes. They seemed to be arguing about something but Allison didn't know what. she remember Jensen calling out the girls name, Hailey. Jensen seemed to be getting more and more upset as the call went on. by the end they were both crying. Jensen hung up the phone and laid back on his bed. Hailey had sent Jensen a text but he decided not to look at it. Allison could feel that he was angry as she dreamt about him.

around 10am Hailey hadn't showed up to school so Jensen took out his phone and read her message. She had apologized for causing a fight between the two over another guy and threatened to take her own life if Jensen was so unhappy with her. Jensen frantically started calling Hailey. When she didn't answer He ran out the front doors of the school and 2 blocks down to her house. Hailey was laying on the floor with a pill bottle in her hand. Allison couldn't make out what was on the label.

The car Allison was riding in hit a pothole and she was jerked awake.

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About a month later Allison came home from school and Erika was holding a new foster baby and smiling. Kieth was there too and he seemed over the moon excited about the baby.

Allison knew her mother's smile was fake. Kieth was getting ready to leave for work and once he left Erika handed the baby to Allison and told her to put the little brat in his crib on her way to her room.

Allison wasn't surprised because she knew her mother didn't like children and didn't want children.

the phone rang as Allison was half way up the stairs and she stopped to listen. Erika's best friend Courtney was on the phone.

Erika put the phone on speaker and sat it on the counter while she went to do the dishes, that's one thing that Erika was really good at she always kept a clean and tidy home.

Allison overheard her mother telling Courtney that she would be getting a nice check every month for having these extra children in her home and it would keep Kieth happy at the same time.

There it was, Allison thought to herself, there was the truth about why Erika was doing this.

Money, if there was one thing that Erika loved more than anything else it was Money. They had a nice insurance settlement from Allison's dad but that wasn't enough and since Erika didn't have a job and refused to work the funds were probably running low by now and her mother needed a new way to bring money in.

Allison didn't hang around to hear the rest of the conversation. She was already upset enough about the small amount she heard.

She looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms. He was beautiful and innocent and didn't deserve to be treated badly by her mother.

Allison debated going back to homeschooling to help take care of the baby but Officer Kieth worked Nights so he would be there during the day ensuring her mother was taking care of him.

Allison gently kissed his head and placed him in the crib that was set up for him. She looked down at him for a few more moments and walked away to get homework done and take a shower.

After her shower she heard the baby crying. She went downstairs to find her mother gone with a note on the table.

It was instructions on how to make a bottle and how to care for baby Bentley.

Allison was aggravated that her mother had left her there to care for Bentley alone but she wasn't surprised, After all she knew her mother didn't like children.

Allison made Bentley a bottle, bathed him, put fresh clean clothes on him and rocked him to sleep.

After she placed him down in his bed she made sure to get to bed too.

In the morning when Allison woke up Kieth was home from work and feeding Bentley downstairs.

Allison asked Kieth where her mother was. She was surprised when Kieth said there was a family emergency and she had to go to Main to be with her sister.

Erika doesn't have any siblings so this was actually a big surprise for Allison.

Kieth then stated he needed Allison to come straight home from school to help with the baby while her mother was away.

Allison debated telling Kieth the truth but ultimately decided not to knowing her mother would possibly harm her when she got home if she did.